VIENNA, Va., Dec. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CEL-SCI CORPORATION has signed a Cooperative Agreement with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), an institute of the National Institutes of Health of the U.S. government, to test CEL-SCI’s patented anti- infective drug CEL-1000 against the avian (bird) flu virus H5N1 in animal models. The testing will be conducted to determine whether CEL-1000 could be used as a potential treatment and/or preventive agent against this virus.
CEL-1000 has previously been shown to be protective in animal challenge studies against viruses and unrelated diseases, specifically herpes simplex virus, viral encephalitis and malaria, and to enhance survival against cancer in animals. CEL-1000 appears to activate innate (very early stage) and Th1 type (cellular) immune responses to induce a broad-spectrum protection against infection in animal models. The innate immune system is generally accepted to be the first line of defense against infectious agents.
Geert Kersten, Chief Executive Officer of CEL-SCI said, “CEL-1000 has been successfully tested in a number of diseases with the support of the U.S. government. We hope that CEL-1000 can activate the immune system to successfully defeat the avian flu virus as it has done against other viruses.”
CEL-1000, derived from the beta chain of human MHC-II, is a modified version of a human immune-based protein known to bind to both human and mouse immune cells and appears to act by enhancing the host’s protective immune response.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) -- The Nation’s Medical Research Agency -- includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary Federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases.
CEL-SCI Corporation is developing new immune system based treatments for cancer and infectious diseases. The Company has operations in Vienna, Virginia and Baltimore, Maryland.
When used in this report, the words “intends,” “believes,” “anticipated” and “expects” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, an inability to duplicate the clinical results demonstrated in clinical studies, timely development of any potential products that can be shown to be safe and effective, receiving necessary regulatory approvals, difficulties in manufacturing any of the Company’s potential products, inability to raise the necessary capital and the risk factors set forth from time to time in CEL-SCI Corporation’s SEC filings, including but not limited to its report on Form 10- K for the year ended September 30, 2004. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly release the result of any revision to these forward-looking statements which may be made to reflect the events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
CEL-SCI Corporation
CONTACT: Gavin de Windt of CEL-SCI Corporation, +1-703-506-9460 orInvestor Relations: Mike Lucci of Lucci Financial Group, LLC,+1-248-723-3330, for CEL-SCI Corporation
Web site: http://www.cel-sci.com/
